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Charity No. 1114807Reg Company No. 5333226

National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Member No. MEMBERVC/15178

PRESS RELEASE

On Monday 4th August, 2014, exactly 100 years after the start of The First World War, The Trench Experience commemorated the event by re-launching their educational project on land beside Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.

Eddie Jones who founded the charity in 2005 said, "At long last we have found a permanent home for The Trench Experience! The development of our activities will run in real time to the events of the First World War, leading up to a Victory Celebration in 2018".

Woking based documentary film maker, Henry Coleman (flickerhead.com) will document the development of the activities at Brookwood. Henry said, "The idea of a hands-on open air living history museum is quite remarkable and I am looking forward to following their progres over the next four years".

Artists Rifles Regiment

The charity has chosen The Artists Rifle Regiment to illustrate trench conditions. The Artists fought as a battalion and were in the thick of the fighting with the Royal Naval Division at Passchendaele and Ypres. Amazingly, not only did they supply over 800 pilots for The Royal Flying Corps, but also produced more than 10,000 officers for the Army, thus becoming part of the history of every British Army Regiment, inclding both East and West Surrey Regiments.

A DAY AT THE TRENCH EXPERIENCE MAY LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS ......

Upon arrival each visitor will be sworn in as a member of The Trench Experience's "Pals Battalion". Journey along the network of duckboards in subterranean trenches and dugouts, a sentry dressed in authentic WW1 uniform and equipment will invite you to look through a periscope into the mist and devastation of No Man's Land.

Keeping your head down and moving carefully along, the sounds of shell and gun fire mixed with smoke and the cries of the wounded will make you think twice about volunteering to climb a trench ladder to help haul a wounded "Tommy" back into the relative safety of the trench.

No doubt you will decide that the best and safest place to be is down in one of the many dugouts, furnished as it would have been on the Somme in France 1916. A visit to an officer's dugout will appear luxurious compared to the smell and horrors of a makeshift dressing station or a "Funk Hole" for "Other Ranks" scraped into the side of the trench.

“Take your Pick!”After the shelling and gun-fire has subsided, birdsong will be heard and a "Tommy" will read aloud a letter from his sweetheart in Blighty. Another sings a song, longing for the war to end and to return to his loved ones. All join in to lift the spirits, questions may be asked and stories told. There will be time to sit quietly, listen to the remaining sounds of nature, read some verses of war poetry or even write some lines of your own.

Later in the day, a visit to the nearby "estaminet" will allow you to try some authentic front line food and drink while watching newsreels or listening to"Songs that Won the War". The lecture room, library, shop, picture gallery, exhibits and displays are other sources of information.

More adventurous "Pals" may wish to hire WW1- style uniforms, tin hats and rifles and take advantage of overnight accommodation in "Laude's Hotel", an underground dugout with wooden bunks, candlelight and stove. Beware! night raiding parties are active and "stand-to" is 30 minutes before daybreak, after which chores may include filling sandbags, digging new trenches or repairing old ones, cleaning rifles as well as parade- ground drill and other tasks that comprised a "Tommy's" normal trench routine.